Dog and God

Who is this for?

• Anyone who’s not on the path of monkhood.
• Those of us on the path of monkeyhood

Definitions

• GOD => being driven by a desire for harmony with The Spiritual world
• DOG => being driven to work your butt off progress in The Material world

Summary: Let’s be real. Most of us aren’t going to go and become monks tomorrow. If we’re gonna do work, we may as well be ambitious and try to get to a place where we can work on things that truly matter. Wringing our hands over ideals and lamenting hypotheticals will not get us anywhere, either material or spiritual. Instead, bearing the spirit of God in mind, set out to do good in this world.

If you were wondering what’s on my reading list

Thesis: DOG and GOD are perfectly compatible. That is to say, you can take the middle path, make spiritual discovery a central tenet of your life, and be successful in getting things done in this world. Being mindful of god does not affect your ability to get shit done - that’s just cope, unless ur doing some blatantly corrupt ass shit it’s n orders removed for most of us so just work hard. Daydreaming about “ahhh if only I did smth better” will not help you do better. Focus will. Action builds confidence and character. As you build competence and connections, you will have capital. And it is only with capital (economic, social, intellectual), that one can effect positive change.

Below, I will present a few strawmen arguments for why DOG is opposed to GOD, and proceed to dismantle them.

• Argument: Being mindful
  • Counterargument: Mindfulness is a moment by moment exercise. It is simply being more aware as we conduct ourselves. This can be just as easily done across any discipline. Thus, there is no incompatibility with DOG.
• Argument: Remembrance of God
  • Counterargument: How much are you remembering God anyway, anon? First, start meditating and praying daily.
• Argument: Harm to sentience
  • Counterargument: Being in the arena and building will necessarily mean causing harm to sentience (yelling at employees, buying goods that are nth-order removed from exploitative factories in the developing world etc). If you choose to not be in the arena, you can reduce the negative expected value of your actions. But you will also be reducing the positive EV. This is the gamble. That the -EV costs will be outweighed by the +EV effects of what we build. (More on why monkhood is a fantasy for most in the FAQ)

FAQ

• Why don’t we all become monks?
  • If you did (BIG if. We are too enamored with Sansara to give up on it. In theory we have the option of giving it up, but in practice, very few of us would. This is a false option then. In reality, then, it’s a much simpler choice — do you believe human technological progress does more good than harm?), it would certainly be the most effective way to reduce suffering. At least for yourself.
    • This is a coordination problem. If we all collectively devoted ourselves fully to this path, suffering would be gone. But realistically, you will not be able to get anybody aside from yourself to make the same commitment. Thus, your impact will be n=1 (yourself). I want to stress that this puts you above most souls to have inhabited this world.
    • Net neutrality is no mean feat. Thus, we already have the technology to achieve liberation for our own souls. Can we help other beings? That’s the underlying belief of technological progress. Technology, paired with the right policies, can improve quality of life for all.
  • For 99% of humans monkhood is a mere delusion and not an actual life choice because we are simply too enamored with this world to seriously consider it. The question then becomes — do we choose to live in decadence, or define the decades to come? Choosing to shape the future is an active choice. And for those of us who are not yet ready to leave the grasp of Sansara, it is the best way for us to do good in this material realm.
    • How can one individually build technology that pushes humanity forward? A non-negotiable is working hard on things that matter. Working hard can be achieved by working hard. Doing things that matter can be achieved by becoming free. For some, this is some degree of financial independence. For others, it is liberation from the psychological fear of finances or other socially enforced expectations of some community. Not all of Maslow’s floors are relevant for everyone. Concretely, some may only feel secure enough to pursue things that matter with maximum drive once they have enough money to live off of without working full time somewhere else. On the other hand some with a specific vision may set out to build and then secure funding from others.
    • Is technological advancement a net positive endeavor? This is where the GOD alignment of the makers becomes relevant. Technology is just tooling. What matters is the ends to which it is employed.

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